The townland of Dunowla holds one such tomb, a structure old enough that the civilisation which built it left no written record of its purpose, its builders, or the people interred within it.

The principal scholarly reference for the site is Seán Ó Nualláin's survey volume covering County Sligo, published by the Stationery Office in Dublin in 1989 as part of a multi-volume national catalogue of megalithic monuments. Ó Nualláin's work systematically documented court tombs, portal tombs, passage tombs, and wedge tombs across the country, recording their physical condition, orientation, and surviving elements at the time of survey. Megalithic tombs are among the oldest surviving human constructions in Ireland, generally dating to the Neolithic period, roughly four to six thousand years ago, and were used as collective burial places, often over extended periods. The Sligo region is particularly associated with court tombs, a type characterised by a roofless forecourt of upright stones leading to a roofed gallery, though the specific classification of the Dunowla monument is not detailed here beyond its general megalithic designation.